What's that? Brett Favre is returning to Lambeau Field to play the Packers for the first time as a Viking? Why haven't we heard anything about this yet?

Ok, so we have. But we haven't posted any proposition bets on it yet! So, without further delay, here are our picks in the Favre Bowl II matchup between Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre. Winners are in bold.

Our biggest surprise of the bunch is taking Favre 10/1 to throw a pick as his last pass at Lambeau. Not so surprising, though, when you consider that his last pass at Lambeau to date was a costly pick to ruin his team's chances at a Super Bowl.

Written by: MJK

The Breakdown- These two teams represent almost mirror images of one another. The similarities between them are pretty remarkable and as such makes it a bit more difficult to define differences between the two to exploit.

The Lineups- If the Divisional and Championship series’ weren’t example enough, maybe now would be the appropriate time to recognize that it is time to let the statistics of the regular season fly right out the window. The cliché, “make every pitch count” never rings truer than at this point in the season, and both of these teams will look to make that a reality.

Both shortstops play integral rolls on their respective teams. Not only do Jimmy Rollins and Derek Jeter assert themselves as clubhouse leaders, but they also play the role of top of the order table setters for the potent lineups that lurk behind them. While it would be interesting to harp on the all the little things that make up a complete lineup, there is no ignoring the immense power potential that oozes top to bottom of either of these teams.

The 3-4 hitters will be sure to provide pitching matchup nightmares, as four of the games best sluggers will be on display in this series. For the Phillies, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are almost the perfect complement to each other. Utley has a pure stroke with few holes in his swing and can drive the ball to any part of the field with relative ease. He will undoubtedly be the toughest out for the Yankees to get due to his short swing and near perfect mechanics, especially in high-pressure situations with men on base. Now, none of this is to discredit the threat that Ryan Howard poses. Obviously, he is one of the games best power hitters and can hit the ball a mile. While his stroke and his eye at the plate have improved a great deal over the course of this season, he still lacks much of the discipline that makes pitchers truly fear him. The problem with the Dodgers pitchers in the NLCS was that they kept missing their location with pitches on the inside half of the plate. A huge no-no against Howard. They missed badly on the inner half of the plate with so many important pitches, they basically gift wrapped every battle versus Howard. If the Yankees don’t allow the slugger to extend on pitches and are able to execute properly on the inner half, then they will have a great deal of success against him. Easier said then done of course.

With the Yankees you get two of the most complete bats in the league in Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. Sure, lots of people are looking to A-Rod’s so –called “clutch” at bats this postseason, but I don’t see it. Sure he’s been locked in more so than at any other point in his postseason career but nothing has been extraordinarily high pressure. The mere fact that he is as locked in at the plate right now as he is, is enough reason for the Yankees to feel confident when he steps in to the box. This is a is a far cry from his previous struggles in the postseason. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to continued success or if certain demons begin to creep up on him once again. One thing is for sure, he is not getting a free pass from me for hitting a few game tying home runs. After all that is essentially what he is paid to do. Its time to take it to the next level. Big Tex on the other hand has been a near godsend for the Yankees this season, however, much of that production seemed to taper off against the Angels in the ALCS. He did spring to life a bit in the final few games, but he really needs a strong showing in this series for the Yankees to operate as they would like to. I really feel strongly about the outcome of this series being decided by these four batters.

The Rotation- It appears as though both teams will move forward with three-man rotations for the balance of this series. If that is the case then the pitcher to pitcher matchups are nearly identical. Not necessarily when mashed into a game to game basis but more along the lines of available content.

CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee have been lights out this postseason, with Lee arguably being the best pitcher in the playoffs to this point. Both pitchers will square off in Game 1 and will surely set the pace for the rest of the series.

AJ Burnett and Pedro Martinez look to face off in a Game 2 that should be one of the more intriguing of the season. AJ’s electric stuff is well documented but his inconsistency (as noted by his lackluster 6 inning-6 earned run performance in the ALCS) should not be tolerated in this series. We all know the history between the Yankees and Pedro when he was with the Red Sox. Of course, he is not even close to the pitcher he was when dodging flailing Don Zimmer punches but that’s not to say he wont be getting a ringing chorus of “who’s your daddy” chants from the Bronx faithful as well. Should be a party.

Andy Pettitte will play the roll of Pedro Martinez in Game 3 when he matches up with Cole Hamels. Pettite relies heavily on his ability to control the strike zone much like Martinez as his lack of over powering stuff can be a draw back if pitches aren’t executed well. Cole Hamels has been an anomaly this season as he seems completely unable to restore the magic he was able to harness during last years championship run. It really is a shame. He has more upside than any pitcher in this series but his inability to locate his curveball with any sort of consistency has been a huge setback as he now finds himself a two-pitch pitcher going forward. His changeup remains one of the best in the game but teams have been able to sit on it without having to worry about the threat of another out pitch.

Both of these rotations provide a good amount of quality pitchers, two aces and an uphill battle in facing the two best lineups in all of baseball. The Yankees will have to rely on their ability to get left handed batters out and not allow the bottom of the order beat them as the Angels did. If the heart of the Phillies order gets to bat with men on base, they will make you pay. The Phillies on the other hand will look to attack, attack, attack. It would be unrealistic to think that just throwing strikes would be the key to their success but in all reality it will be very important if they want to continue to keep pitch counts down and innings quick. The starters will need to go deep into the game as manager Charlie Manuel will surely not want to tap too much into his bullpen.

Intangibles- While the Yankees offer a much more balanced lineup top to bottom, the Phillies possess an element of speed, which can quickly change the pace of any game in a short series. It might go without saying that considering the potency of both of these lineups, the series will fall into the hands of the bullpen. While the Yankees looked to have a stranglehold on this aspect in the ALCS, both Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain got knocked around quite a bit and now manager Joe Girardi cant be nearly as confident as he was coming into the postseason. That being said they still have a considerable amount more depth than the Phillies, even with the relegation of former Phillies starters JA Happ and Joe Blanton to the bullpen. Brad Lidge has shown signs of coming out of his season long funk but I feel like I have told myself this one too many times throughout the season. Only time will tell. The Yankees will be able to make any game a 7 inning game with Mariano Rivera’s penchant for the two-inning save.

The Verdict- Its tough because the Yankees have been the best team in baseball all season long but the Phillies are riding real high right now and have probably been the most impressive team thus far in the playoffs. Momentum could play a very important roll but that being said could also be vastly overrated, especially in a short series versus two quality teams. This series will not go less than 6 games. Period. But it won’t go more either. The Yankees take home the crown in 6 games and bring the title back to the Bronx.

Brett Favre took a knee on the thought of an undefeated season in Week 7

Written by: MJK

Defeated in Steeltown- Its about time something slowed down that Brett Favre love train. I mean seriously, I don’t think anyone has expected him to play as well as he has this year, but do we really want to keep feeding that beast? We all know what this offseason is going to entail so why contribute to the inevitable, ya know? If this Vikings squad was going to make any more of a march towards an undefeated regular season, than my Sunday morning ritual (which is really no different than my 3-S routine on any other day of the week) would have included a fourth S. Self induced vomiting. The Steelers came to play with their usual “step yo game up” versus a legit opponent attitude and locked down the Vikings on pretty much all fronts. Sure, the Ole Gunslinger had a comfortable 334 yards passing on 33 completions but the Steelers were able to keep him out of the endzone. Most importantly, they were able to limit running back Adrian Peterson to just 69 yards on the ground while taking advantage of two very opportunistic turnovers that were taken to the house. All in all it was a recipe that worked as Pittsburgh looks to reassert itself atop the AFC North after a slow start to the year.

Cedric the Entertainer- Cincinnati running back Cedric Benson’s playing career was left for dead after three seasons in Chicago that probably had the same production equivalencies as a two year old trying to walk before it could crawl. Through his stint in the Windy City, he never eclipsed the 700 yard rushing mark, never garnered more than 4.1 yards per carry, never played all 16 games, and most importantly, was never able to win over his teammates and coaches (most of which probably was his own doing). Compound that with two alcohol related arrests in a 5-week period and suddenly the former 4th overall draft pick found himself on the scrap heap after the Bears released him before the 2008 season began. The Bengals swooped and since signing with Cincinnati during the early parts of last season, Benson has been both resurrected and vindicated. Two weeks after breaking the Ravens 40 game streak of not having allowed a 100-yard rusher (he rushed for 120 yards in a week 5 victory), Benson and the Bengals squared off against his former team. Not only did the team make Jay Cutler and company look like a pack of girl scouts pretending to know how to play football, but Benson laid out his Windy City demons with a stout 37-carry, 189 yard, 1 TD showcase that easily became his career best performance. Through the first seven weeks Benson is the NFL’s leading rusher and a huge reason for much of the Bengals offensive success.

Desert Storm- I find it almost laughable at how many people were writing off the Arizona Cardinals before they even played a down of football this season. Everyone was pointing to a Super Bowl loser slump, or an aging Kurt Warner or a team that simply caught fire in the playoffs last season as excuses in not believe they could repeat in a NFC West division that is far from over powering. Hopefully after a very impressive showing against the Giants on national television, those doubters will turn into believers once more. They still offer one of the most explosive offenses in the league and an exciting and incredibly athletic defense that remains vastly underrated. All that being said, I find myself wondering if they really were able to learn certain intangibles from last season’s run…as most good teams do. They have had one of the better home field advantages in the league over the past couple of seasons, but their inability to have consistent success on the road has held them back from making the step to the NFL’s next tier of teams to be reckoned with. Well on the contrary, this season has seen the team get off to a slow start at home with a 1-2 record (a trend that I assure you will reverse as the season carries on, already as many losses at home as all of last year) while also forcing the issue with an undefeated road record of 3-0 after gaining only 3 wins away from home all of last year. The latter I feel will not be a reversing trend. Sure, the team still has a long way to go before laying claim to continued postseason success but the lack of run they were getting before the season began was almost completely unwarranted. If they can keep showing this much poise on the road than...in the words of Kurt Warner…”Thank You Jeeeeeeeebus!.”

Speed round: 70 words or less

The good, the bad and the badder- The Jets, Packers, Chargers, Colts and Patriots all won their games by a combined score of 183-23 versus their opposition this weekend. All five played teams with 2 wins or less.

Grandmama, oh no you di’int- Surprise, surprise, Larry Johnson is running his mouth more than his feet these days. The has-been running back apparently felt the need to not only mutter discriminatory words but also felt compelled to defend himself with his riches via Twitter. Stay classy, LJ. He was told to stay away from the team today. Hey look at the bright side, at least hes not spittin on and pushing ladies around anymore…I guess. Will the real Grandmama please stand up?

The Saints doubled down…and hit paint- New Orleans climbed out of a 21 point hole and made yet another statement with a 46-34 victory down in Miami. With 80 combined points, there was more scoring going on here then a Fred Smoot run Minnesota Viking lake party cruise. Heyooooooooooooooo…bada bing.

The strangest variation of a dude with two first names is…- Miles Austin? Oh yea. Not much to say here. Dallas is 2-0 since he took over as starter and he has accumulated 16 catches, 421 yards and 4 touchdowns the past two weeks. Pretty impressive.

Jake Del-Go-Homme- The Panthers have undoubtedly been one of the most disappointing teams of the season. Jake Delhomme is 99.9% of the reason why. Delhomme has thrown for as many or more picks then touchdowns in every single game this year. Season totals? 4 TD’s and 13 INT’s. The Panthers just gave him a contract extension because? Awkward silence.

Plays of the Week- This weeks version features Desean Jackson, who may have now over taken Titans running back Chris Johnson as the most exciting player to watch in the NFL and a beautiful catch by Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe, in what was probably the teams lone highlight versus the Chargers.

Our Free NCAA Football Picks have been chugging along quite nicely, but a 1-3 week derailed them a little last week. This week, we turned out a 3-2 week to at least get us back to our winning ways, and now stand at 58% this season.